Makita or HF or Primecell

My Makita cordless drill is getting tired. Or, more likely, the
batteries are wearing out. My options include:
1) put up with it
2) Use only corded drills from now on
3) Buy more batteries either at the store, or off the web, or Ebay
4) Buy a cheap drill from HF and hope that's good. I've got a couple
12 volt "Drill Master" which have served well, for a long time. I use
them for turning screws, light duty. Charge for an hour when the drill
won't work any more. The charger is unregulated.
5) Buy a different brand altogether
6) Get a couple tired 14.4 cells rebuilt at Primecell
Has anyone had good experience with any of the HF drills? Or with
Primecell? I've heard others reccomend Primecell.

With a Makita cell it will be top quality Panasonic or Sanyo cells,
probably better than what prime cell uses, but check. HF wont be top
quality anything like the Makita is. If it suddenly died check the
charger for voltage,what is the battery voltage when you check with a
v meter

I'm liking Ryobi for cheap tools. I like the way they are designed and
the attention to details and features.
Their standard 18V drill has a half inch chuck. How cool is that? It's a
bad boy.
I bought the kit, drill, circular saw, sawzall and flashlight with 2
batteries from HD for $129, a deal they have run on and off for years.
What got me into Ryobi was the cordless fan. It runs a long long time
and kicks out enough air to make being outdoors pleasant.
If you can afford the LiIon batteries, the Ryobi 18V tools can use
either them or the NiCads. LiIon is the future.
Jeff

primecell is the way to go, the batteries are better than new and
often you can upgrade to even better ones for a little more money,
their self discharge rate is real low, my best friend sent one in for
rebuild and noted 5 months later it was still usable in comparison to
his old battery where a month saw it stone dead.
he got this specifics tool pack rebuilt since he didnt use it much so
he felt he had nothing to lose.
now he is sending in all his packs to primecell since the first one
worked so well

Can't comment on Primecell, but local Interstate Battery franchise
rebuilds NiCds very well. We have a heavily used Milwaukee 18V drill
with 2 out of three NiCDs rebuilt several years ago still working.
Upgraded the battery stock with one new Li ion and the new charger a
few months ago. The new charger seems to do better with NiCds than the
old one. Drill is somewhat better with the Li ion, and lasts longer
between charges.
Actual $$ saving over buying a whole new kit wasn't that much, but at
least its one less thing for the landfill.
Joe

I've had a couple of 14.4V packs rebuilt by Primecell a couple of
years ago and they still work, last and recharge as good as ever. The
next time I need a battery replacement, I will first consider a
rebuild from PrimeCell. Plus, their cost is less than a cheap
no-name replacement. Your call, though.

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